Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) returns to work his magic on the small screen. In typical style he is focusing on a small group of highly intelligent professionals but this time it's a team of journalists working for a renowned news network rather than a team of political aides running the country. No it isn't as life-and-death serious but Sorkin makes it feel like it is.

SPOILER alert: for those who haven't yet seen the first episode there are plot points discussed below.

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Don't make the mistake of thinking you are watching a behind-the-scenes show on the making of a hard-hitting news programme. Instead it is a love story that just happens to be set behind the scenes of a hard-hitting news programme.

Meet Will, he's an affable news anchor who has made a good living out of not offending anyone. Well, that's not strictly true because he offends his staff all the time, just not the show's guests. We first see him fronting an audience of college students where he is struggling to take an interest in the panel debate he's on. He won't be moved to disclose his political leanings but with a bit of pressure he finally cracks and spews forth a diatribe on why America is not the greatest country on Earth. Amazingly, he is able to reel off a dozen statistics to support his case. Of course it's only amazing up until the point you remember that Aaron Sorkin seems to have a fetish for characters with photographic memories.

Leading man ... Jeff Daniels sinks his teeth into the role of news anchor Will McAvoy.

Surprisingly his lesson didn't go down too well, not with his fellow panel members, the college audience nor the many people who tuned in on YouTube. He takes a break to escape the calamity only to walk into another one on his return: his deputy has left to anchor his own nightly news show and is taking Will's staff him, including his whipsmart and highly annoying executive producer Don. Not to worry because Will's boss Charlie has already found a new EP who, and here's the rub, just happens to be Will's ex-girlfriend.

Enter Mackenzie, aka Mac, who apparently is one of the best television news and current affairs producers around. She's highly employable yet no one but Charlie will employ her. She's just returned from covering warzones and we're told she is more American than apple pie - we are told this because she just happens to have a British accent which could otherwise put off American audiences.

In a classic rom-com "meet-cute" Will and Mac first run into one another (not literally, that would be a little too cute) in the middle of the newsroom in front of the staff. It doesn't go well so they retreat to his office where they have a private slanging match, which turns out not to be so private because the glass walls in this building are in no way sound proof (something that will come in handy for future episodes).

Sam Waterston as Will's boss Charlie brings much-needed gravitas.

Will reveals he has taken a multi-million dollar pay cut for the ability to fire her on a weekly basis and Mac tries to sell him on her intention to create a news program that aims high on information and intelligence with little regard for ratings. Don Quixote is mentioned and you are left to figure out who is Quixote, who is Sancho Panza and who is the ass. The novel may serve as a guiding light for the show but that point really wasn't hammered home enough.

Just as the pair are reaching a stalemate Mac's offsider Jim enters the room with a breaking news story: there has been an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. If the story sounds familiar it's because it is not only based on the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010 but actually is that very spill. This is where we learn that The Newsroom will not be making up new events, nor will it even be inspired by real-life stories, instead it will be set in the recent past and taking advantage of actual news events. It's unusual and it's clever: this way the show gets to utilise past news footage and the audience gets to feel smart (something we don't usually feel watching a Sorkin show) because we know more than the characters do. For example, Don and Jim argue about the importance of the story – we of course know that it is just the tip of the iceberg (excuse the oceanic pun) and it further entrenches our dislike for Don (I have seen him likened to Josh Lyman from The West Wing, he may have the corresponding smarts and even the junior love interest but so far none of his charm).

With the introduction of the news story the extensive set-up finally starts to pay off. When Mac and Will throw out the show's rundown you begin to get swept up into the adrenalin of the moment. Their biting repartee, with Mac in the control room and Will at the news desk, is a high point and we can see that their relationship friction could make for interesting television.

The Newsroom's Jim, Mac and Maggie in the control room.

The show is big on the feel-good factor. In the first episode the high ideals pay off and the staff bask in the joy of producing intelligent news. It was a job well done and we get to bask a little bit too. At this point there would be nary a journalist watching who didn't wish there was more of this euphoria going around. Just don't ask about the ratings.

Jeff Daniels, of Dumb and Dumber fame, is perfect as Sorkin's next leading man. He's gruff, authoritative but can also pull off the lighter moments. Emily Mortimer as Mac might be out-weighed (she is tiny) but she certainly isn't outclassed. Mortimer proves she not only can spout out a lengthy monologue but she can more than hold her own with Daniels in a scene.

The rest of the cast don't really put a foot wrong in the first episode. Maggie (Alison Pill), Jim (John Gallagher Jnr), and Neal (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) will provide plenty of fodder for debate in future episodes but for now the main criticism is that the newsroom is very Gen Y. In this regard Will's boss Charlie (Sam Waterston) brings some much-needed gravitas and his love of a bow tie is a nice old-school touch.

In a sentence: It's smart, funny and aims high - be prepared to sit through some sermons but there are laughs to be had and more than a dash of romance too. Did someone say Quixotic?

Best bit: The idealism.

Worst bit: The idealism.

Next episode: Monday, 8.30pm, Soho (Foxtel). Stay tuned because one of the best characters is yet to be introduced; Sloan Sabbath (Olivia Munn), the hotshot economics reporter, soon becomes one of the highlights of the show while some of the other characters crash and burn.

Worth watching again? Of course. Frankly if the mood of this show was available in little bottles we would all be taking a dose before work.

Grade: A

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47 comments so far

I'm up to ep8 thanks to the net, and while it's hopelessly idealistic, it's a great show that has obvious comparisons to the West Wing. Maybe Sorkin only has one story in him, but it's a good one that's very well written with the huge benefit of 20-20 hindsight.

You just know that none of the commercial channels could ever run it with a straight face - this newsroom exists to shine a less than complimentary light on newsrooms far more intelligent and principled than anything 7 9 or 10 have to offer. A little like a serious but no less biting Frontline.

Recommend it.

Commenter

Harvey K-Tel

Location

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 3:40PM

Wish it was on a commercial channel as I don't have Foxtel . . .

Commenter

MST

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Date and time

August 21, 2012, 4:12PM

Forget the commercial networks. Remember what happened to The West Wing on commercial tv? They didn't know how to handle it, chopped and changed it, put it in a very late timeslot and lost viewers, then stopped showing it altogether. It was left to the ABC to screen it when they took over the rights. If it does go to free-to-air I hope either SBS or ABC screen 'Newsroom'.

Commenter

Viewer

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 5:22PM

This show is amazing! brilliantly written in every way.

Commenter

Justincrdable

Location

SYD

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 3:41PM

The `getting' of Bin Laden had been my favourite episode so far. Funny and poignant. I was laughing one minute (Jeff Daniels doing stoned A restrained performance but still very funny) and then sobbing the next.

I'm loving Olivia Munn's character as well. I've a friend just like her. Brilliant head but totally focussed & passionate on what interests her to the exclusion of everything else that's going on in the world. More good telly from the US - it's another golden age of television for sure.

Commenter

Rossco65

Location

Newcastle

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 3:43PM

Episode 4, the Gabrielle Gifford shooting is my favourite. Electric!

Commenter

Jonathan

Location

Redfern

Date and time

August 21, 2012, 5:33PM

The show is being held up as 'preachy,' but really, it's just a drama in a newsroom and no more. The writing is clever, the direction is smart and there's plenty of room for character development. After the glut of cooking, dancing, singing and other indescribable reality shows, it felt great to see a well produced, thought provoking drama on television again. I'll be back for next week's episode.

Commenter

Bazwat

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Date and time

August 21, 2012, 3:47PM

Sorkin has dipped into Jewish tradition and produced a modern day "midrash" - a kind of commentary on the Bible which expands upon the biblical text to flesh out and fill gaps, and connect it to the wider law and experience. In this case, it is not the biblical narrative but recent history that receives this treatment. Either way, the intent is to educate and derive deeper meanings from the "plain text" - of the Bible or known history.

Oh, and it's also a drama about people who get to do all this stuff (just like the West Wing).

While The Newsroom is occasionally annoying, it is well worth watching for the many jewels it contains.

Commenter

Gwyntaglaw

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Date and time

August 21, 2012, 3:48PM

Wow - you could be right. I am not Jewish and hadnt thought about something like that. Will's Jewish therapist who appears about episode 5 certainly serves to provide a deeper and calm commentary on Will's inner turmoil which I guess is a stand-in for America's as well. Of course a Jewish therapist in NY is hardly a rarity but there is something about that character that connects on a deeper level than just being a foil for Will's angst.

Commenter

StBob

Location

Date and time

August 22, 2012, 11:34AM

Completely agree -my only complaint was that I wanted a second episode straight away. I'm not too concerned about Will's memory (they did something similar with Toby in the very first ep of west Wing) or just slightly heavy-handed use of music (that will improve). I think that the Maggie character will fufil the Donna Moss role, and that the Josh Lyman of the piece will turn out to be Mac's offsider.

PS Natalie, it was an Oil *Rig* explosion, and it should have been "tip of the iceberg" not "iceburg" :)